[amc] tanks for all your support
- From: lesang@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
- Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 22:16:28 -0500
Hello friends and relations,
It's been a long time since I sent out an email. (see my new email address at
the end) There are many reasons for this. Business is the main one. I do have
internet access way out here in Dale Texas. Of course, I've had to make a
technological back-track and now have dial-up. Of course, this means that when
I am on-line, I can only be reached by my cell phone. This, in turn, means that
I need to remember to carefully place my cell phone on the window sill above the
kitchen sink. This is the only location in the house that I have found where I
can get reliable Sprint coverage for my cell. So, if you call my cell and it
sounds like I may be yelling into the phone from a distance and my voice sounds
as if I might be standing on my tiptoes and resting my diaphragm on the thin
edge of a sink, then you have reached me at home.
I still love my house. It is perfect for me and the pooches. This is the first
time in my 30 years (I had my 30th birthday since my last epistle and didn't
freeak out about the new decade one little bit) that I have lived alone. I am
quite happy with it so far. I purposly don't have a TV, so I've been reading
and listening to books on tape and cooking and letting my dogs in and out and
in and out and in and out and in and out of the door depending on their mood.
Actually, I thought I might be lonely, but so far the doggies have been plenty
of company. I hang out with Kristin, my coworker, a lot. I go to Austin
occasionally. There is a great group of women (mostly ex-roommates) that meets
for dinner at each other's home every Tuesday. I make that as often as I can.
This is hurricane weekend and it sounded like we were going to get tornados and
wind and rain, so the state of Texas decided Caldwell County's offices should
close at 2pm on Thursday. That meant a nap and a trip to the grocery store
(with apparently the entire town of Lockhart)and then a simply marvelous
Friday at home. The most amazing thing happened Thurs. evening. I sat curled in
my armchair reading a book and this tall, dark, and handsome man came to my door
and asked me to go horseback riding with him on Sunday. I am not joking!!!! How
many times have I complained about not knowing where to FIND the men to date
and lo and behold! The place is apparently my living room in DALE of all
places! So, we will see.... I had met a bunch of neighbors last Sunday when I
was walking Thurm and Salina and got invited in to Eddie's backyard fish fry
for a visit. Jason (tall, dark and handsome) is a neighbor and Eddie's nephew.
Let's see what else... oh yeah, I don't like my job. This past month has been
rough. I was just starting to feel like I had some idea of what was going on
with my cases when the oh-so-wise CPS powers-that-be decided that Caldwell
county office should work the Fayette County cases instead of Bastrop county
(which will continue to do the investigations and the
family-based-safety-services cases). So, since I live in Dale and have the
laptop and everyone else lives further away, I sorta volunteered for the
Fayette case load. Of course, I insisted that I get "points" for this and am
hoping to cash in these points until at least December since by volunteering I
saved my coworker from this awful fate. They had some trouble with the concept
of "points", but I think I got that cleared up by loudly and often mentioning
how lucky they were. (I resently realized that I also have the least seniority
in my unit since 2 others started 1 week before me and then attended training
for 6 weeks. The one working the longest started in Feb. Some kinda job
turn-over, huh?!) So, I have to get to know an entire new group of families and
kids. Plus, the court works very differently over there, there are no resources
or therapist to refer to and it is an hour away. :( The worst part was that
they kicked me out of my office and though there are 2 perfectly empty offices
across the hall, I was not allowed to be in them b/c they belong to a different
state agency. Again, the oh-so-wise CPS powers-that-be! I thought I was going to
have a break-down, but realized that I really didn't have time for a breakdown,
so I just threatened one and finally got to make a cubicle in the conference
room for an office. I only have to get out at certain times of the week-like
every Tuesday from 2-4. Sigh..... at least I don't have to run around the long
conference table to get my phone that hung on the opposite wall anymore.
I love my coworkers. That is a HUGE plus. We are a good team, though we remain
overwhelmed. I can not say the same for my supervisor (the liking or the team
part) who insists on referring to us as "her workers". Occasionally we poor
stessed "workers" buzz at each other and refer to her as the 'queen bee.' It is
important to find humor in unbearable situations, don't you think? Every single
'worker bee' has considered quitting quite seriously. Well, except for me who
sees this gi-normous number 24,000 with dollar signs around it whenever I think
about quitting. That is how much I would owe the oh-so-wise CPS powers-that-be
if I quit now. WAIT! September is almost over, right? So that means only $23K.
That isn't so bad. Maybe.... No. I'm in it for the 2 years. I just like to
dream about quitting day. There are some perks to the job (besides a day off
for 'dangerous' weather conditions that turn out to be sunny and beautiful all
day). The other day, Kristin had a fat little baby in the office for a parent
visit and his Dad didn't show up. So, I held the little fatty for 45 minutes
and fed him his widdle bottle. I have 4 and 5 year-old siblings that I see
every week that are 100% adorable. They come in for therapy with "Bahbra" who I
call Barbara. They are free with the hugs and said they would be happy for me to
call them vegetable-names like punkin-head and swee'pea. It is the paperwork and
deadlines that get me down.
I had a MOST enjoyable trip East for the wedding of my favorite brother and my
favorite sister-in-law. It was fun and wonderful and beautiful and momentous
and exciting and just PERFECT. It was good to see so many of the great people
who love them. Being with such people fills my 'love tank' right up to the top.
I got a surprise love tank dose last week. I volunteered at Ten Thousand
Villages store and was kicking myself for committing to it because I wanted to
stay home on my precious time off from work. It was so much fun and so
wonderful to talk to the people who shop in a fair-trade store that I am doing
it again tomorrow. Plus, Ray Gingerich volunteers on Saturdays and he is the
best!
Speaking of tanks! I'll end with this story. About a month ago, Kristin
(coworker) convinced me to go with her to San Angelo (about 3 hours west of us)
to visit her friend, a 50-something woman that she calls Tex-Momma. Tex-Momma
lives on a 3000 acre ranch and calls herself "Trouse Trash." Tex-Momma
explained that a Trouse is a trailer-house. I took the dogs along. The way
there was uneventful except that when we went in to a restaurant to eat
Thurmond apparently saw something or someone that he needed to impress and
sprayed his 'scent' from his anal glands onto my seat. (Lesson: dogs have scent
glands similar to a skunk but lack the control over them that a skunk has.) We
had to ride with the windows down for a bit. So, we get to the trouse and
settle in. Thurm and Salina were so happy to explore. Suddenly they saw a new
creature. It ran. They chased. I caught them as they raced past me and had to
tie them. Peewee, the pet sheep who thinks he is a dog hangs around the trouse
and was offended that these barbarians would chase him. Later, we put Peewee
across the fence, untied the dogs and went for a swim in the stockTANK. (did
you wonder where the tank was in this story?) It was a big round cement tank
and was cleaner then lots of other bodies of water that I've been swimming in.
Katie, the aggressive host dog was being mean to Thurm and Salina and Tex-Momma
was apologizing. I had just commented how glad I was that it wasn't MY
'children' that were being embarrassing when a great barking commenced in
PeeWee's enclosure. The dogs had got under the fence and were running him into
the ground. I ran with images in my head of Grandpa's sheep that we had had to
shoot when dogs got her and a helpless feeling. Thurm got a mouthful of wool
and threw Peewee to the ground. Tex-Momma chased them off with a stick. Then,
luckily, Peewee ran TO his Tex-Momma (instead of away like a normal sheep) who
beat the dogs off until I got there and drug them off to tie them.
EMBARRASSING! Later we tried putting PeeWee in a tiny circular pen and released
the attempted-murders again. They wouldn't stop barking and running around the
pen and poor Peewee nearly broke his neck inside the pen getting away from
them. So, they bundled Peewee into the truck (this is not a little lamb-it was
a struggle) and sat on him while Kristin drove the truck way out to where the
sheep are and I held onto the miscreants. Peewee hates this because he is a
DOG! Later, when it got dark, my sweet dogs disappeared and we had to go get
them in the truck-yes, they were on the way to PeeWee. So, do you think
Tex-Momma will invite me and my little murderers back!?
So, what is happening with you?
Lara
this email address will end soon. From now on use my new one-
Thandeka@xxxxxxxxx
-------
Austin Mennonite Church, (512) 926-3121 www.mennochurch.org
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